The Covid-19 Pandemic has propelled India’s $194 Billion Outsourcing Industry towards Carbon Neutrality with Hybrid Working Models, Electric Mobility, and Digital Disruption for Campus Hiring. As the world celebrates, World Environment Day on June 5th, UnearthInsight, a metrics benchmarking and market intelligence firm today revealed an interesting set of findings on India’s outsourcing industry’s significant contribution towards carbon emission during the pandemic period. The study conducted for FY 2020-21 included around 2000 plus outsourcing technology companies in India including IT, ITeS, Engineering, GIC/GCC, and Startups. The study reveals and estimates an 85% drop in Carbon Emissions during the year at ~0.3 Million Tonnes of Carbon Emissions from a pre-pandemic level of ~2 Million Tonnes of Carbon Emissions annually. The study observes that today only 4% to 5% of ~4.4 Million Workforce in the outsourcing industry is traveling to work.
UnearthInsight Benchmarking analysis estimates a mere $750 Million spent on Travel costs in FY 2020-21 by outsourcing industry compared to $2.9 Billion in FY 2019-20 wherein Top 5 IT services companies (TCS, Infosys, HCL, Wipro, Tech Mahindra) spent around $370 Million on Travel costs in FY21 which is 75% lower compared to $1.4 Billion in FY20 primarily helping reduce carbon emission resulting from commute to work, domestic travel, and international travel.
Source: Annual Report of Listed IT Services Companies, UnearthInsight Primary Research on Travel Spend of GCC/Captives and Private IT Services Companies
According to Gaurav Vasu, Founder & CEO, UnearthInsight “The outsourcing Industry was on track for the adoption of Hybrid Working Models, Electric Mobility even before Covid however the pandemic and quick adoption of Digital tools/technology has dramatically changed the scenario and today carbon emission reduction looks sustainable over a longer period of time. COVID19 disruption has made Outsourcing organizations, clients’ and employees’ environment friendly helping them accelerate their journey towards Carbon Neutrality and also Digital Workplace, improving operating margins in the long run. We see a greater realization among companies on issues related to carbon emissions, hybrid workplaces and WFH policy and these are trends which will shape the future.”
Work from Home, Digital Platforms, Electric Mobility, and Digital Campus Hiring driving the drop in Carbon Emission
Even before the pandemic, tech companies and captives like TCS, Infosys, HCL, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Unisys, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle captives were already reducing carbon emissions with the adoption of Digital Employee Transportation Apps clubbed with Electric Vehicle fleet providers. UnearthInsight study estimates over 20% to 25% of employees to return back to work by early next year as global and domestic IT firms’ complete vaccination of employees & families. This is when pre-pandemic pilots and investments of larger Tech and Captives who deployed Disruptive EV (Electric Vehicle) Startups like Lithium Urban Tech & Trivision Mobility along with AI Transportation Tech Platforms Routematic, Moveinsync, BlueSmart, and Sun Telematics will pay off as companies aim to move from ~5% Employee travel on EV to over 25% to 30% by 2025 helping achieve carbon Neutrality targets. Also, significant adoption of Digital Tools to avoid future domestic and international travel needs with consumer-grade experience will also aid Carbon Neutrality targets.
COVID19 disruption also made the largest industry players move from pilot to large-scale deployment of technologies like Digital Campus Hiring Platforms which helped significantly reduce carbon emission earlier generated by travel to over 1000+ campuses across the country.
In the new trend in hiring, Digital Fresher Hiring strategy has made Day 1 slot irrelevant for large Tech Services companies. It’s estimated ~70,000 to 75,000 freshers got hired through End-to-End Digital Platforms of Top two IT companies (TCS and Infosys). It is also expected that by 2025, 75% of Campus Hiring for the Tech industry is expected to happen through Advanced End-to-End Digital Platforms/Tools. This will force other Tier I and Tier II IT firms also to build Digital Platforms to attract graduate talent from across the country. These tools and platforms have created a level playing field for engineering graduates regardless of the type of college or tiering as assessment determines the quality of talent rather than Tiering of college/institute.
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